April 7 Illinois History Minute

It’s April 7th, the day when Naval intelligence officer Edwin T. Layton was born in Nauvoo. He promoted the use of code-breaking information in war-planning.

During World War Two, Layton butted heads with naval bureaucrats to get decoded Japanese messages relayed to the field commanders who could use them --- notably in the Battle of Midway.

Golfer and businessman Clement Smoot was born on this day in Highland Park in 1884. His business success came in industrial lighting. As a golfer, Smoot was on the U-S team that won a gold medal in the 1904 St. Louis Olympics. 

Listeners to WILL-AM heard Fresh Air for the first time today in 1985, when NPR picked up the interview show for national distribution.